Mark McNeill

My thoughts on the Rakino Hall. I love the location of the current hall – it is picturesque with a killer view that completely sums up what Rakino is for me. I also love the fact that it is beside the wharf, which is the natural social hub of the island. Everyone goes there to catch ferries, get mail, and pick up or drop off people on a regular basis. It brings everyone on the island into the same space regularly, so we all run into each other on an informal basis. That’s great for community and neighbourliness – don’t...

It seems that over the last 9 years a number of reports have been commissioned by the Waiheke Board proposing what to do with the Rakino Hall - including 2012 build a replacement seawall, 2014 re-site the hall, 2018 allocate $290k from renewals budget to relocate on existing reclamation, and a Dec 2018 resolution that ‘doing nothing’ was ‘not an option’. Yet not a single report or proposal has been acted on. It doesn’t seem as if anyone is holding the Board to account – not the least being (if this is really the case) paying Tonkin Taylor $20,000 to...